Media Resources

This page is reserved for members of the media who need resources for reporting on the Alameda Mayor's Fourth of July Parade. All materials on this page are copyrighted, and available to the media only.

Quick Links:

Background information:

The Alameda 4th of July Parade is one of the largest and longest Independence Day parade in the nation. With over 170 floats and 2,500 participants who travel a three mile route, the parade has become the central activity of the Bay Area's Fourth of July weekend.

The parade boasts the longest route in the United States, drawing over 20,000 spectators from the region. Parade entries cross the full spectrum of Bay Area residents includes:

Equestrians

Dance troops

Floats and antique cars

A large variety of bands

Many community members host front yard barbeques where their friends and family come together to watch the Parade. It is a tradition for many families to return to the same spot along the Parade route to celebrate the Fourth of July year after year.

The Mayor’s 4th of July Parade was voted the “Best Hometown Celebration” for 2007 and "Best Hometown Parade" for 2008 by the East Bay Express. They proclaimed the parade “…a bit of Kansas right here in the East Bay.”

BEST HOMETOWN PARADE 2008 Alameda Fourth of July Parade

"Everybody loves a parade, and Alameda's annual Mayor's Fourth of July extravaganza — always on July 4, no matter what the day, natch — attracts some 20,000 spectators, or roughly one-third of the city's population. Everyone and then some are there to wave flags and witness color guards, marching bands, baton twirlers, classic cars, horses, politicians, veterans, and floats, floats, floats. The parade route is longer than three miles, allowing the city to claim it as the longest parade procession ever, which no one bothers to challenge. Families and friends lucky enough to live on the parade route host barbecues as the spectacle winds past, while others from Alameda and throughout the Bay Area contentedly nab spots along coveted stretches of Park Street, Grand, Central and Otis for optimal viewing. This event epitomizes Americana at its finest and is the best hometown parade going in the East Bay, no question. Makes you proud to be an American."

Contacts:

This year's parade

Grand Marshal:MICHAEL FINNEYBill Goggin was my journalism teacher at Ray Lyman Wilbur Junior High School in Palo Alto. He is responsible for all of this. He taught me, "The job of the journalist is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." That's pretty much what I've been up to ever since.

I started 7 On Your Side here at ABC7 News and over the past 20 years I have sent bad guys to prison, forced product recalls and returned millions of dollars to consumers. Because I spend so much time dealing with legal issues, midcareer I returned to law school. That education has served me and ABC7 News viewers well.

Even many of my close friends don't know that as a young reporter I covered the '89 Loma Prieta Quake, Oakland fire storm, L.A. riots, and numerous floods, forest fires and other calamities. Let me tell you it is other worldly to be on a boat, in the middle of a hurricane attempting to reach a devastated Kauai because the air space has been closed. No electricity, no lights, just the silhouette of a mountain rising out of the ocean. I know what that island looked like to ancient mariners.

There is little I like more than to "afflict the comfortable", but among those is skateboarding with my son, watching my daughter cheer and having a nice Pinot Noir on a warm summer day in the wine country with my wife.

Check out my Facebook page. You can send me your questions and find out how to get free stuff! Also, follow me on Twitter for the latest consumer news AND more freebies.

Michael Finney joined ABC7 News in 1991. His consumer reporting has received many prestigious awards in broadcast journalism including honors from several Press Clubs, The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Radio Television News Directors Association and the Associated Press. Community groups such as Consumer Action, The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and The National Association of Consumer Advocates have also honored his work.

Michael's 7 On Your Side reports can be seen at 4, 5 & 6 p.m. on ABC7 News. His "Consumer Talk" radio show is heard every Saturday afternoon between 1 - 4 p.m. on KGO-AM810. His first book, Michael Finney's Consumer Confidential was a top 10 best seller on The Amazon Business list. His most recent book, The Definitive Guide to Bay Area Deals, was released in the fall of 2012.

Parade Committee

Alameda 4th of July Parade committee members (left to right,
right-click to download press-ready image):